yeah i know he wasn't very instrumental in that wc but he deserved the golden ball more than the winner ronaldo since he actually choked in the final. and reverse ronaldo deserved the golden ball in 2002 more than that year's winner oliver khan i think he got the golden ball for nostalgic reasons this time
So, you say that Italy didnt deserve to win cause they always played defense and didnt produced an attack since minute 60th. Well, let me give you the news: France didnt do sh*t also against Portugal, but they won. What about that?
While Zizou has been an amazing player over the years, dribbling past oponents setting up plays and scoring some beautiful goals, he's also had a shady side to him. He's headbutted people before, he dives quite a lot, though you'd never guess that by the way Gallas spoke about the Portugueses as if all the French were saints . But did he deserve it for this years performance Hell no ! The only games Zidane played well in this year was when the rest of the team was playing well, where was he when Gallas was saving there arsses, or when Ribery was running all over the place trying to make things happen, talking to the other players, wow, what an inspirational leader. The only bright spot in all this is he's done.
It's all a matter of trends and history. The past two cups (98 and 02) the Golden Ball has been a consolation prize to the best player on the team that finished second, Ronaldo and Kahn. Not to buck a trend they went with Zidane. That plus the fact that he was supposed to be the "feel good" story of the cup. Coming out of retirement, illustrious career, last great run for a great player. Nostalgia and feelings went more into the voting. Zidane will go down as a great player in history but he didn't deserve the Golden Ball. Ricardo, Klose, Lahm, Cannavaro or Buffon would all have made better choices. I think what hurt Cannavaro was Buffon's performance. The Italian defense + Keeper were the best unit of the WC, thus making individual awards and performances hard to judge. If Buffon was the superior keeper than that meant that the defense wasn't as great since they relied on Buffon and vice versa. If Cannavaro and the defense were stellar than that meant Buffon wasn't really brilliant but relied alot on his defenders. Not saying that either is correct but voting can be affected in that way. In the game Buffon made one great save (the Zidane header), other than that he didn't block a single PK. Personally it appeared that Ricardo was the best keeper of the tournament and Cannavaro anchoring the defense should have earned either of them the Golden Ball.
A disgraceful award. Ignoring the headbutt, he was never the best player throughout the tournament and only played well in a few games. What makes it even worse is that in years time people will incorrectly think he was the best player as a direct result. Shocking.
To me, he did deserve the award. And all of these dumbasses who dont support him anymore because of this incident, im sure ANY player u still support has had a shameful incident. Which player hasn't had a shameful incident?? almost none.
He didn't deserve it at all on the basis of what he actually did during the tournament in comparison to the other candidates. The headbutt seals it.
Like I said in an other post:"if a French player called an Italian a d*** don't you think the Italian would strike him?I guarantee you the exact same thing would happen.The Italian player would get carded for striking the French player, and then the Italians would defend him just like France is defending Zidane.If any Italian fan thinks it would happen differently then they are a hypocrite." I guarantee you an Italian player would strike back for moral sake and all of Italy would be proud of him.
Though I understand it was a media vote, I agree with those who criticize FIFA. FIFA is the authority sanctioning the Golden Ball award and, in light of ZZ's shameful conduct, should have convened a special meeting and disqualified him for conduct unbecoming a professional and contrary to the spirit of fair play. I suspect FIFA delayed the announcement while it considered this option and ultimately rejected as the result of a political compromise or perhaps in order not to draw further attention to it.
France is not exactly on fire in this tournament. They sucked in the beginning, held on when needed, but if not for that penalty against Portugal on a DIVE, where would France be now? I have no doubt that Ricardo can win it for Portugal had it gone to penalties.
Probably many were Americans who know nothing about the game, wanted to beat the traffic and, anyway, Zidane was the only name they could remember.
He wasn't even the best player on his own team - Vieira and Thuram both had better tournaments. From a purely footballing point of view he had 1 great game (Brazil), 1 good game (Spain), 1 performance with a few good moments (Portugal), 1 performance with a little less good moments (Italy) and 2 games where it was almost impossible to know if he was on the pitch. Add to this he was the most indisciplined player at the tournament (3 yellows and 1 red) and this award is nothing more than a "thank you" from the media. If he was not retiring he would not even have been considered.
And yet without him, France goes down in the second round instead of being World Cup finalists. It's a "career" award for sure, but not totally unjustified.
It's completely unjustified. Two of his team-mates were more important over the whole tournament than him. Without Vieira or Thuram France would have struggled to get out of their group. The award is for the best player at the World Cup, not for someone who had a couple of good/great games and one of the worst disciplinary records in the history of the competition.
that's a patetic career award...Zidane did only a good WC but there are at least 10 players who did better
No, its not an overreaction... to see someone who is awed by children around the world and admired by soccer fans every do something like that (and worst all of that he has done it before) is not commendable by any means and sheds new light on how i think of the player. I think Materazzi is no saint either (check out other similiar threads for what I've said of him), and if statements of his trash-talking concerned racial slurs are confirmed true, he also is shameful.
Like the one who instigated the act? Blame is shared on this one. And the offside call was correct. You didn't actually listen to Balboa on that one, did you?
I thought it was for the media darling. In my mind, the best player was Mascherano, but I doubt he was given much consideration.